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IMPORTANT: The allegation of gang-rape in the Rolling Stone article that formed the basis for this question has been retracted; later evidence on the matter shows that the allegation that gang-rape occurred at the fraternity was false. Other similar events have since been alleged at other universities: Baylor, Yale and Wisconsin

Rolling Stone recently reported a horrific preplanned gang rape at a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at the University of Virginia, with the victim's "friends" telling her afterward not to report the crime, on the theory that "She's gonna be the girl who cried 'rape,' and we'll never be allowed into any frat party again."

Under pressure, the university has belatedly decided to suspend fraternity events until January. This seems pathetically inadequate to me, but what can a university actually do in this situation that will have a significant and lasting effect on a firmly entrenched rape culture? Are there cases where other schools have done something more effectual? Supposing for the sake of argument that they were willing to completely disassociate themselves from one frat, or from the frat system as a whole, would it do any good? I assume that the frats own their houses, and the schools can't actually shut them down.

Ben
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    Many universities in the past have implemented successful bans on fraternities and sororities for a variety of reasons. – Kallus Nov 26 '14 at 17:17
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    See Inside the Colleges That Killed Frats for Good (Newsweek) – ff524 Nov 26 '14 at 17:20
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    Also see The Dark Power of Fraternities, The Atlantic, March 2014. From the article: one in eight undergraduates in four-year U.S. colleges lives in a Greek house; the houses themselves are worth at least 3 billion dollars. A system like that is not easy to change quickly. – Oswald Veblen Nov 26 '14 at 17:27
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    @xLeitix: yes, sexual assault at universities is an endemic problem. Your opinion that it's a criminal justice matter is also commonly raised in the U.S. The challenge is that the U.S. criminal justice system has generally done an awful job handling cases of rape, to the point that many victims do not wish to report their cases to the police. Also see How the U.S. Ended Up With 400,000 Untested Rape Kits. It seems to me that both universities and police agencies will need to change. – Oswald Veblen Nov 26 '14 at 17:32
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    @xLeitix: one aspect of the U.S. system that is particularly non-obvious is that the U.S. federal law requiring equal opportunity at universities regardless of sex (Title IX), in addition to covering admissions and sports, also covers sexual harassment, and is interpreted to require universities to follow up on sexual assault charges and to have an internal process for handling them independently of the police (see e.g here). – Oswald Veblen Nov 26 '14 at 21:30
  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – ff524 Nov 26 '14 at 21:35
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    @ff524: It would be great to see that comment expanded into an answer. The article makes it sound like frat houses at those schools were all owned by the schools; I wonder if this is true in general, or only at some colleges. The article cites personal impressions that these schools eliminated a lot of woman-hostile behavior by killing off their frats, but it would be interesting to know whether these impressions can be substantiated by any objective or quantitative evidence. –  Nov 27 '14 at 00:05
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    Once again, the premise of the argument is false and nonsensical, so to answer the question it would have to be reframed into something more factual and objective instead of a personal opinion rant piece, as there is no "rape culture" and people, yes, even the accused, have rights. What the university should do, is allow the state investigators to do their job (assuming someone filed a report), and react accordingly with the results. – Keith Dec 02 '14 at 12:53
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    I just clicked through to the article. It's status is a bit unclear. But it seems from a cursory look it was retracted. Possibly this question should reflect this. – quid Mar 03 '17 at 00:07
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    This particular assault didn't happen, should we update the question? https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/q/4010/37441 – Azor Ahai -him- Feb 27 '18 at 06:26
  • " Other similar events have..." The BU frat party allegation, may involve multiple accused individuals since there exist 16 defendants. However, perhaps only one might be accused of physical violence. I don't see anything which suggests that there was even an accusation of gang rape in the Yale article. More glaringly, there was a single victim and a single suspect in the UW article. That differs from the Rolling Stone accusation where there were supposedly 7 assailants. So, even if all of these accusations were true (and we know that isn't the case!), they simply are not similar. – Doug Spoonwood Apr 07 '18 at 01:59

3 Answers3

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As it turns out, membership in fraternities is not, in general, strongly correlated with rape. Rather, it appears that a large percentage of sexual assault is committed by a very small fraction of men who are deliberate predators, who tend to seek out environments where their behavior is enabled by people either turn a blind eye to their behavior or who are not willing to intervene in a problematic situation. Some fraternities provide such environments, but many non-fraternity social environments do so as well.

Rape is committed mostly against women who know their attacker and who may even be intimate with them willingly under other circumstances (men are raped as well, but at much lower percentages than women). One of the major recommended interventions for a college is thus to educate students, especially other men, on how to intervene in situations that are likely to be a prelude to rape. This is one example of a broad spectrum of recommended prevention and mitigation policies, which appear to be both effective in reducing the incidence of rape and reducing the damage that compounds to rape victims in an unsupportive campus culture.

None of these interventions are particularly difficult or expensive. The main challenges in implementing them are resistance from people who have some stake in keeping aspects of their campus culture from changing, or who are worried about potential image problems.

jakebeal
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    @xLeitix You're welcome. Certain comments associated with this question made me uncomfortable and angry, and I figured I should channel that productively. – jakebeal Nov 26 '14 at 21:39
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    Re the "Fraternity Membership, Rape Myths, and Sexual Aggression on a College Campus" study you cite, I wonder if anyone has studied whether being on a college campus that has fraternities is correlated with rape? – ff524 Nov 26 '14 at 21:41
  • It's hard to comment on the Schwartz paper since it's paywalled. The gang rape described in the Rolling Stone article has many features that seem to me like they could only have happened at a fraternity. –  Nov 26 '14 at 23:38
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    No offense but I don't see how this answers the question. It's more like a long comment. Also taking the % of rapes per fraternity member is flawed. Basic human nature tells me it is much harder to tell people about rape when it is against a larger group. The fact that they use reported rapes in the study is flawed. Just another one of those studies that relies on data without thinking about what goes into the data. – blankip Nov 27 '14 at 00:17
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    @BenCrowell did you take notice that by now it appears more likely than not it did not happen at all but rather was invented (which may explain why it matched stereotypical imaginations so well)? – quid Mar 04 '17 at 02:07
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I had friends at a very popular fraternity at a major college (and later served on a discipline board). This fraternity had a series of violations. Mainly underage drinking, poor grades, and complaints from girls (nothing even close to rape). So just a series of dumbass fraternity guys acting like dumbass fraternity guys. Seriously what do you expect when putting 20-200 guys between 18-22 in the same housing.

For these smaller infractions the school will warn both the local charter and the fraternity national headquarters. Each school has its own rules. So I can't say that one violation at one school is handled the same as another. Also when I say a school has rules I am being very liberal. [A school will have an advisory/disciplinary committee that will basically do whatever it wants]

A school may have outlined several examples of violations (hazing, drinking, grades...) and then their punishment for those. But I have first hand seen how hazing has turned into - boys will be boys - because someone on the committee went to school with one of the boy's fathers. Or another dad makes a big contribution right after he got in trouble.

So a school may do pretty much whatever it wants from putting a fraternity/sorority on probation, from expelling members of that fraternity, from taking the charter away from the fraternity. And it doesn't matter if the house is off campus or not. In the case I mentioned above, the fraternity owned a house about a half mile off campus. The university read the boys the riot act, said they were closed, or they could leave the school.

I have first hand seen both good and bad things happen using the school system as reinforcement.

Good

  • School can act much faster than our court system
  • School can make people "testify" (based on most honor codes)
  • School usually has some reasonably smart people making decisions

Bad

  • It is easy to cover things up. I had a friend get assaulted on campus. The campus police did next to nothing and it didn't get reported as an assault to the actual police because the university was worried about their crime stats. Friend found out nothing was happening, so reported to the police... case was too cold by then to get much traction.
  • One influential person can taint any committee. Several times I was told to vote a certain way (or I wouldn't be on said committee in future). Let it be known after I refused once that 3 committee spots were cut including mine - and then 3 months later 5 committee spots were opened.
  • Once things hit the press a school will do damage control not get to the bottom of what was actually happening. See the Duke lacrosse team as a perfect example.

Answer in short: The school will threaten to kick out any students that don't abide by their rules. So even if a "fraternity" isn't nationally chartered and doesn't have any direct correlation with the school the school can still have said fraternity disbanded or the members face expulsion. This threat happens all the time but is hardly ever enacted on. The students really have no discourse except for talking to the press (which in some schools can lead to expulsion).

blankip
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    It's also easy to lie and with the fear-mongering nowadays, campuses are all too quick to throw the "book" at the accused based off of he-said, she-said, no strong evidence needed. – Keith Nov 26 '14 at 19:08
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    @Keith - Exactly. I once was told to sit before a committee as a freshman for tearing up a residence hall floor. The floor RA didn't like me and said she saw me on the floor that night drunk. The committee told me that I was guilty in a letter. I simply asked for any witnesses and expected that said witnesses would face harsh punishments if found lying... Case mysteriously dropped. (I was at a bar with entire rugby team at time of damage 5 miles away) And I did not show up for any ridiculous meeting for something I was not involved in. – blankip Nov 26 '14 at 19:12
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    Rape is a serious matter, and even an allegation of rape can have serious consequences decades down the road, even if the man is innocent. With this context, "School can act much faster than our court system" sounds too much like "school is not bound by legal niceties like due process, the right to confront one's accusers, or trial by jury" for me to be comfortable with a parallel system of justice. – Stephan Kolassa Nov 26 '14 at 20:43
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    @StephanKolassa: there is a reason why different standards of evidence apply in criminal cases than in university disciplinary cases. The "legal niceties" you indicate apply when the state wishes to put someone in prison. When a school wishes to discontinue educating an individual and remove them from their campus, as when an employer wishes to fire an employee, the standard is understandably lower. When the safety of the other students is at stake, a school might even be legally required to act on information it has even if it does not meet the standards of admissibility at a court trial. – Kallus Nov 26 '14 at 21:12
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    @Kallus - I agree. The problem happens when authorities draw their conclusions with little to no evidence and mostly from that day's public opinion or bad reporting. Many universities have gotten sued for dismissing a student due to unjust reasons. Do they care? Not really because if they pay out it comes from their sizable endowment or they just raise tuition and other students pay for it. The fact is there is literally almost nothing regulating these committees and members will only be fired/punished if they have a long history of poor decisions. – blankip Nov 26 '14 at 21:56
  • @blankip: No doubt that the system can be improved, but I would point out that bad decisions are made in both directions. The RS piece includes a case where a student was allowed to return as a student after being found responsible for multiple assaults. From the Title IX link posted by Oswald: When an institution “knows or reasonably should know” about a hostile environment, they are required “to take immediate action to eliminate the harassment, prevent its recurrence and address its effects.” – Kallus Nov 26 '14 at 22:05
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Now that the reported rape at the University of Virginia has been thoroughly discredited and exposed as serious journalistic misconduct, I think it is worth adding a new answer to this question that reflects that updated information.

The OP has suggested that the university’s action in suspending the fraternity, after receiving public pressure, was “pathetically inadequate”. We now know that the allegation made against the fraternity was false, and they were the victims of a smear campaign. The university has settled a defamation claim by the fraternity for $1.65 million in damages, and there have also been other legal settlements from the magazine and the writer of this rape hoax. The legal settlements are minimal given the extreme misconduct and bigotry of the university and the magazine.

In view of these developments, I submit that the lesson to be learned in these cases is not to grab the pitchforks and rouse the town-folk due to unconfirmed (and farcically implausible) allegations levelled against socially unpopular groups. People with the scientific training of academics should have the integrity to reject this kind of “trial by media” that proceeds without regard to evidence and due process. Much of the academic community disgraced itself with this witch-hunt against a group of innocent men. This is unfortunately typical of the rampant anti-male bigotry of modern academia.

StrongBad
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Ben
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    Reporting that the article is false is useful. This, however, requires proof: "rampant anti-male bigotry of modern academia". As a male, I have not experienced this. – Tommi Feb 26 '18 at 12:44
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    The institutionally sanctioned witch-hunt against innocent men in this instance constitutes a small piece of the evidence constituting that larger proof. Presumably you are asking for "proof" (as opposed to evidence) because this sets the impossible standard of a full account of anti-male bias in academia in a single posting. Is that the standard for all assertions of fact on this blog - full proof of all aspects of evidence for a broad social claim? Or would it be fair to say that this is a selectively deployed standard, reserved for when someone breaks the narrative? – Ben Feb 26 '18 at 21:52
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  • There is no "rampant anti-male bigotry of modern academia." 2) Although the specific article has been retracted (and indeed, was a grossly unethical piece of hack work); the question - which you didn't answer - is still valid enough.
    • – Azor Ahai -him- Feb 27 '18 at 00:32
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    These false rape allegations against innocent men have stood on this website for over three years, with no amendment or retraction, and have been up-voted significantly. That is apparently fine with the academia.stackexchange.com community. But when you post an answer correcting the record, it is heavily down-voted. So apparently, false rape allegations against men are fine, but suggesting there is anti-male bigotry in academia is beyond the pale. The down-voting of the post speaks volumes to the ingrained bigotry I am talking about. – Ben Feb 27 '18 at 00:49
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    If you'd like, we could swap out the UVa story with the scandal at Baylor, or at Yale, or at Wisconsin, or any of dozens of other similar stories. That this particular incident was invented does not mean that there isn't a problem. – aeismail Feb 27 '18 at 05:13
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    @Ben Have you suggested an edit to the question to change it out for a real rape or have you only complained about it? – Azor Ahai -him- Feb 27 '18 at 05:22
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    @Azor: It would be dishonest to substitute the initial claim with another incident, thereby pretending that the initial claim was never made. The original post stands as a valuable reminder of the witch-hunt that occurred in this case, aided and abetted by the academia.stackexchange.com community. After more than three years, it falls to a recent member to point out the obvious, which is immediately met with heavy down-voting and criticism. Pathetic. – Ben Feb 27 '18 at 05:52
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    @Ben I don't understand what you want the outcome to be here, then. You don't want the original claim substituted with another on-campus incident of sexual assault because you don't want AC.SE to hide the fact that we "aided and abetted" a false rape claim. No one is criticizing you for point out that the original article was shitty, but more for your crappy MRA attitude. – Azor Ahai -him- Feb 27 '18 at 06:05
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    @Azor: Were it not for my presence on this forum, this false rape accusation probably would never have been pointed out, and the charge against these innocent men would stand without contradiction. So apparently, it takes someone with a "crappy MRA attitude" to correct the record on something as serious as a false gang rape claim on this site. That doesn't receive any attention for over three years, but a claim of anti-male bigotry in academia warrants immediate mobilisation within a day! – Ben Feb 27 '18 at 06:15
  • @Azor: As to the desired outcome, it would be nice if people on this forum had even a fraction of the concern for false gang-rape allegations as they do about my claim of anti-male bigotry on campus. But apparently they don't. So in the absence of that, I am happy with the status quo, where the attitude of this forum is on full display for the world to see. – Ben Feb 27 '18 at 06:16
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    @Ben You realize how this site works right? As soon as you posted a new answer, this question was bumped to the top of everyone's feed. Why didn't you just post a meta question like "hey guys, looks like no one's noticed this old question was based on an article proved to be fabricated, what should we do?" instead of making up claims that AC.SE is anti-male. Look at ANY question about gender, and you'll see that women are treated with HEAVY skepticism on this site.. – Azor Ahai -him- Feb 27 '18 at 06:20
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    @Ben https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/q/4010/37441 Here, did it for ya. – Azor Ahai -him- Feb 27 '18 at 06:26
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    Thanks for adding the meta-question. I have up-voted it. – Ben Feb 27 '18 at 06:47
  • @Azor: As you can see from the above thread, my original claim criticised only the OP (not the general AC.SE community) for his failure to correct his own false claim. I also criticised the broader academic community for their role in the scandal. Within a short period of time, my answer (which is the only thing pointing out the false rape claim) has been heavily down-voted, apparently on the basis of a disagreement with my claim of anti-male bigotry. So evidently, the AC.SE community thinks this is so beyond the pale that it overrides any real concern about a false gang rape claim. – Ben Feb 27 '18 at 06:58
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    @Ben Your answer is downvoted because it does not answer the question, and because it contains controversial claims without evidence. You might notice that there are two comments under the question suggesting that the question should be edited; you'd do well to upvote those. – Tommi Feb 27 '18 at 08:44
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    @Tommi: Pointing out the false premise of the question is a perfectly legitimate answer. The OP's post cites a false gang-rape claim as showing a "rape culture" and then asks what can be done about this. Pointing out that there was no gang-rape, and it was a witch-hunt is a perfectly legitimate response. The claim that this "does not answer the question" is disingenuous. – Ben Feb 27 '18 at 11:06
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    @Ben You are actually correct in that your answer is indeed one. My apologies for reading it too quickly. I would happily remove my downvote, should you remove the final line of your answer; it is needless editorializing and as for now, unsupported by strong arguments. – Tommi Feb 27 '18 at 13:29
  • @Ben https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/104640/13017 – Tommi Feb 27 '18 at 14:15
  • @Ben my original claim criticised only the OP please keep your comments polite and focused on the argument that the OP makes and not the personality of the OP. – StrongBad Feb 27 '18 at 20:51
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    @StrongBad: Nothing in my post mentioned anything about the personality of the OP. It criticised the false allegation made in his post, and made no reference to his personality. – Ben Feb 28 '18 at 22:35
  • You were doing so well until the last paragraph... – Fomite Mar 05 '18 at 21:41
  • Snide smug comments aside, is yours an objection to the last sentence (which a few others didn't like), or the whole paragraph? If the former, are you suggesting we should rouse the townsfolk and grab the pitchforks to hunt down accused gang-rapists without any due process? – Ben Mar 05 '18 at 22:04
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    @aeismail The BU accusation may have involved multiple accused assailants. But, the article isn't clear on that. It just says that there were more than a dozen defendants (on what charges? illegal consumption/distribution of alcohol?). The Yale article doesn't suggest multiple accused individuals acting in concert in a gang rape as far I can tell. The BU article clearly indicates a single victim and a single assailant. In contrast the UvA accusation involves 7 physical assailants. So, no, I don't agree that you can swap such stories. At least not once the term 'rape culture' gets used. – Doug Spoonwood Apr 07 '18 at 02:09